Chapter 34 Rory
Rory
“Where have you been?”
I look at the journalist who asked the question and sneer. “Why the fuck do you think you’re entitled to my comings and goings? Who the hell are you?”
She sits back, her cheeks burning red.
This is the problem with the people around us: when you let them in, they think they are entitled to more.
No one is entitled to more.
Except my Bonnie.
I lean forward and look at her, really taking the time to memorize her. Sarah Miles, a very pretty beta with massive aspirations. She was one of the biggest and cruelest voices that went after Bonnie. I’m going to ruin her life as a courting gift to my omega.
“So, there will be no merger?”
“No. Allied Track is going to need to rebuild with the loss of three of its CEO’s.” Vale says. “However, we will be stepping back from Alpha Wise and handing the reins to the other talented family members.”
“What?” The room explodes. Reporters, CEOs, investors.
They scream and demand answers and information. I just watch, amused at the chaos that is unfolding. The room is grey, with huge windows that look out over the city. A hundred people had been summoned for this meeting, and they are all facing us, expressions angry and fearful.
I glance across the room to where Rolly is twirling a pen in his fingers, around and around. He looks amused and bored. Blaze has his eyes closed and appears to be asleep, while Sage and King are taking notes on who is who.
I rub my hand over my face and look at Vale. His temper is getting shorter and shorter.
We answer more than an hour’s worth of questions before Vale stands up, does up his suit jacket, and walks out without a backward glance.
I roll up the sleeves of my black shirt, grumbling under my breath as I follow him out. “How much longer is this going to take? It’s been three weeks; I want to get back there.”
“Hello?”
I turn and find an impressive alpha with sandy brown hair and a square jaw. His eyes are shrewd, and he’s taller than all of us by two inches. I don’t like the way he looks down on me.
“My name is Detective Roseland, and I just want to ask a few questions.”
He could have come in with something charming and friendly, but I think he knew we would see through it. It’s all business and caution with him.
I relax my limbs and lean on the wall, watching him with a sardonic smile on my lips. He tenses slightly at the change in our posture. One predator to another. I silently tell him that whatever he wants he’s not getting it.
“What can I help you with?” Vale asks politely.
“I would just like an account of what happened on your hiking trip.”
“I thought the coroner said it was an accident?” Dakota snaps. “Do you people think someone can control a hive of bees now?”
The detective’s expression barely flickers. Oh, this alpha is good, and he’s already convinced it's murder, he just doesn’t know how.
“I want to know what you know about Bonnie Sanderson?”
My temper flares. “Nothing.”
“Nothing?” The alpha looks down at his notes. “Aren’t you supposed to be her scent matches, the ones who rejected her?”
I snarl. “Bonnie was with us when it happened.”
“Convenient,” he says coldly.
“No, she literally was caged to her car, telling us she wouldn’t see us again after today and thanking us for being so professional when it happened.”
“She was?” This is clearly news to him.
“Yes,” Dakota says. “It was an extremely painful and private moment for all of us.”
The alpha bows his head. “I see.” He pulls out his phone and looks at it. “Just one more question. Were there many accidents on the hike?”
“We were all extremely unlucky, but the only person who nearly died on the hike was Bonnie when Rojer pulled her over the cliff.”
The alpha’s head snaps up. “Did she hold a grudge after that?”
“No, she was too busy trying not to get raped by seven alphas.”
His eyes widen.
“Did your source not tell you about the stunt Kevin pulled when he cut her bag loose and filled it with rocks? All our suppressant patches were in there. She was a wounded omega, and she tried so hard to appear like she wasn’t injured so she wouldn’t trigger anyone’s instincts.
Bonnie is the most professional omega I have ever met,” I snap.
I’m speculating about Kevin being the one to mess with her bag.
I don’t know which of the three did it, just that it’s the only thing that makes sense.
Serial killer Marrow sabotaged us on that raft, and I’m not sure why.
“She was in pain and struggling with her fear, which we could all smell like burnt biscuits. It was intoxicating. But she stayed with us, guiding us home, nothing but a professional. I have nothing but the utmost respect for that omega, whether she is mine or not,” Vale says clearly.
The detective nods his head, looking thoughtful. “Okay, thank you so much. By the way, what’s next?”
I stare at him, refusing to answer.
“Right, I’ll be off. Thank you, Pack Prince.” There is nothing mocking there, but I can’t help but get the feeling that he was laughing at us.
“He’s an ass,” Kota snaps.
“How long?” I growl.
Vale looks at his phone. “We can go now.”
I jog down the stairs and hit the button on the lift. It takes forever, and then we’re in the mirror room as it descends. I don’t see anything. This is it. We’re free.
Our last time.
I’m not coming back here.
Now that I've found her, everything has changed. The car is waiting for us, and we climb in. Vale takes over from the driver, and then we’re away, threading through traffic. Our bags are down at the house we’ve purchased.
Everything is ready.
Three more long weeks have passed, and I’m dying to see her, dying to end this parting and take up our future.
We pull up to our new house in the middle of the night, but I don’t wait. I get out and walk the three houses to her house and stare up at it.
Inside one of those glowing windows is my omega.
“Come out, Omega,” I shout.
“Rory, for fuck’s sake, what are you doing?”
The door opens, and she comes out, her expression morphing into surprise when she sees it me.
I reach into my jacket and pull out the necklace we bought her. It’s a wild rose with thorns.
“I brought you a gift.”
She looks incredible; her hair tousled, wearing black sleep shorts and a singlet with a sleeping possum on it.
“I don’t need gifts,” she snarls.
I shrug. “I know, but I’m courting you all the same.”
“What? Wait, what are you doing here?” She folds her arms over her chest and looks around in confusion.
Dakota comes up and grabs her with one arm around her waist, pulling her up off her feet against his chest.
“We moved here.”
“What?” she shrieks.
“We gave it up, and we moved here,” Dakota says again. “This is our life now.”
She blinks and clutches at his shoulders. “What do you mean you moved here?”
“Um, we own that house over there.” Cyn points at our new home.
“You…bought a house on my street?”
“Yes.”
“Because…”
“We want you. And we’re staying. Your life, however you’ll let us in, is what we want,” Vale says solemnly.
“This is insane. You can’t just give up your entire lives.”
“We just did.”
She lets out a scream, shoves Dakota, and breaks free, putting space between us.
“I just got over you again, and you think you can just waltz in and fuck my life up? Like I will just keep surviving you leaving?”
Cyn grips her throat, dragging her close and bending so their lips are almost touching. “We’re not leaving.”
“But-”
“This is it, permanent. We’re here to win you back, bonds, forever, a home, whatever is on the cards. We’re staying with you.”
A huge alpha comes out of the front door. His aura is deadly, and, normally, I would pick a fight with him, and we’d tear him apart, but I recognise the faint whiff of his scent, and this alpha is our beloved’s father.
We can’t fight with him, even if all my instincts are rising to the surface, demanding I do just that.
He puts his hands on his hips and glares in our direction.
“Who are they?”
Bonnie mutters something about bossy alphas under her breath. “This is Pack Prince.”
His ease fades, and he turns deadly in the blink of an eye.
“Pack Prince, huh? I’ve been looking forward to this day for a very long time.”
Vale leans in close to me. “We can’t kill him.”
I snap my teeth. “I know that.”
“Good. Let’s go meet our father-in-law.”
I shudder at the thought, but Bonnie just sighs, looks to the sky, and shakes her head.
“Tomorrow, Dad.”
“Tonight, Bonnie.”
“No. Tomorrow. I want to talk to them first. I need a shower, and I have things I need to do,” she snaps. “My life, remember?”
They glare at each other until he finally backs off.
“Fine.”
She waits, but he just stands there, massive arms crossed over his huge chest.
“Dad, be gone, or I’m calling Mum.”
He straightens. “Low blow, spawn of my loins.”
“I told you that was foul, please stop calling me that. And please stop referring to your dick as loins.”
“Child of my dick just doesn’t have the same ring to it.”
“Oh, come on, enough. Please. I will vomit, and then I’ll be really annoyed, and Mum will have wasted the good food. Just stop, no one wants to hear it.”
“I want to hear it,” I mutter under my breath, trying not to laugh. Bonnie whips her head towards me and glares.
“Not another word, Rory, or you can walk back to where you came from missing your damn loins.”
I sigh in pure bliss because she is just the picture of perfection.
After a long, tense moment, her dad turns and goes back into the house.
Bonnie mutters something else and then turns, facing us. I take her in, really look at her. She’s lost weight; she looks tired, exhausted, and she looks like she’s been crying. I approach her cautiously, and when she doesn’t move away, I lift a hand, cupping her cheek.
“Bonnie, I missed you.”
She stares up at me, her eyes filled with vulnerability and fear. I never want to see her look scared, and I’m going to work every day to make sure that she doesn’t have to look at me like this again.
“I promise you, we are going to make it right. We’re not leaving this time, trust me. Trust us.”
She opens her mouth, and I can see that she wants to protest, but instead, she surges up, pressing her lips to mine.
This is what I’ve been missing. I don’t hesitate.
I kiss her with all the emotion I’m trying to restrain.
I hold her and drown in the peanut butter cookie scent that I want to devour.
All the familiar curves that I have dreamed about for weeks now are back in my arms.
“I missed you, too,” she whispers against my lips.
“Come and see our new home?” I ask.
She hesitates again, and I let her slide down and put a foot of distance between us. Vale, Cyn, and Dakota move in around her, touching, breathing her scent in.
“Okay, take me home.”
I wonder if she even noticed what she said just then.